3 September 2007 By Graham Croker
Sydney University’s female skiers dominated the slopes when Sydney University took out the overall title at the recent 2007 Australian University Games skiing championships at Perisher.
The university’s female skiers won the overall women’s pointscore, while the men finished second overall behind the University of Technology, Sydney. Their combined points saw Sydney University win the overall championship by 40 points from the University of Melbourne and UTS.
Emma Wilson showed her class by winning gold in the Giant Slalom and Super Giant Slalom and silver in the Slalom, giving her the overall women’s alpine title.
Melanie Halliday also shone in the women’s alpine events, winning bronze in the Slalom and Super Giant Slalom.
Aimee Watson won the silver in the individual women’s cross country, while Rachel Friend, Rebecca Murray and Nicole Barnes won silver in the women’ team cross country.
Gold also came Sydney University’s way when Gemma Ferris won the Ski Rails. She also won bronze in the Half-Pipe ski and finished with a silver medal in the women’s overall freestyle.
The University also picked up points in the women’s Board Half-Pipe with Renee McConnell winning bronze.
In the men’s events, Max Simmons won gold in the Half-Pipe Ski, silver in the Ski Rails and the overall freestyle gold, while Toby Kane won bronze in the Slalom and Hamish McLean, Nick Gregory-Roberts and Alistair Blackburn-Hart won silver in the team Cross Country.
The overall championship didn’t come without injury: Deanna Dovey tore a knee ligament, Katherine Phillips and Alex Cameron broke wrists and Dana Perrignon Roth dislocated a shoulder.
The Australian University Championships in snowsports is the winter version of Australian University Games. Sydney University Ski Club had won two of the past four championships leading into the 2007 championships.
The competition includes Alpine (Super G, Giant Slalom and Slalom); Freestyle (Moguls, Skier-X and Rails); Cross Country (Individual and team); and Boarding (Giant Slalom, Slalom, Boarder-X and Half-Pipe and Rails).
